As human beings, we take for granted our ability to feel pleasure,
pain, temperature, texture, and a myriad of other sensations through
stereognosis. These sensations originate from the human somatosensory
system. The somatosensory system plays a key role in exteroreptive,
interoceptive, and proprioceptive functions, whose roles are related to
perception of stimuli, reaction to stimuli, and control of body
position and balance, respectively. With such a complex bodily entity,
one of my main scientific questions is obvious: How can we replicate
somatosensory system function?

Currently, the best way to successfully replicate somatosensory
function in amputees is through transplantation-- though this remains a
complex, time intensive process with no guarantee of a patient
regaining complete sensory function or control. However, this procedure
is not accessible to most people, particularly due to an intensive
psychological screening and lifelong autoimmune suppression required.
This has led to increased research into prosthetics and artificial skin
substitutes that are capable of giving sensory feedback, as well as
limb regeneration.

My project focuses on combining innovative concepts, specifically
three: (i) electroconductive materials; (ii) skin grafts and neural
innervation; and (iii) cellular stimulation and migration, in order to
create a novel human-machine interface. We plan to utilize
biocompatible, non-biodegradable, electroconductive stretchable
material support designed through polymer synthesis and processing
using electrospinning to bridge the gap between these fields. Eventual
use of skin grafts and co-cultured cells upon these electroconductive
scaffolds will allow us to examine consequent cellular migration due to
electrical fields. The resulting interface will allow for the eventual
recovery of complete somatosensory function to prostheses users, as
well as the potential to assist patients with conditions that affect
the somatosensory system, such as severe burns, Vittangi disease, and
leprosy.